1953 Fender Tweed Twin Low Power 5C8 Wide Panel 2x12

PRISTINE CLEANS. AGGRESSIVE OVERDRIVE. THE FENDER TWIN STORY.
 
Along with the Bassman, there is perhaps no other Fender guitar amp as enduring and revered as the venerable Twin.  It has been universally hailed as one of the all-time great guitar amps ever since it was introduced at the summer 1952 NAMM show; prized across genres for its loud, clean tone.
 
Like the Bassman, which preceded it by mere months, the Twin was unveiled before it had even been named, and its design included some significant firsts. Although it was introduced at the 1952 NAMM show only as Fender’s new “Hi Fidelity” guitar amp, it was, as author Tom Wheeler notes in The Soul of Tone: Celebrating 60 Years of Fender Amps, “a milestone."
 
First, although still tweed-covered, it looked different from any previous Fender amp. Fender was phasing out the “TV panel” design introduced in summer 1948 in favor of a more streamlined design in which the grille, no longer recessed, ran from side to side to the inside edges of the cabinet, with wide panels running across the top and bottom of the face. Thus, the new “Hi Fidelity” amp was the first “wide-panel” Fender amp; a design that would soon be adopted for all previous TV panel models.
 
Second, in terms of speaker area, it was bigger than any previous model. The “Hi Fidelity” amp was only the second dual-speaker Fender model, after the 2x10-inch Dual Professional (later Super) of 1947, but the combined 24inch cone diameter of its two heavy-duty 12-inch Jensen speakers made it the largest Fender offered.
 
Third, it was more powerful (25 watts) and it had more sophisticated tone controls than any of its predecessors. It was, for example, the first Fender amp with separate bass and treble controls rather than a single roll-off tone control; a development that the company called “the latest in electronic advances." Further, it had two volume knobs (bright and normal) and it also had an unusual new tone stage driven by its own 6J5 single-triode tube, which followed an octal 6SC7 preamp tube in each of the two preamp channels, with another 6SC7 in the paraphase inverter.
 
This original version of the amp, model 5C8, was advertised very early on as the “Twin 12 Amplifier” and “Twin 12 Artist’s Model Amp” before Fender settled on a permanent name, the Twin-Amp, which was soon widely known in even shorter form as the Twin.
 
And a legend was born...
 
Just fully serviced with new and NOS parts , this BEAST is ready to rock! This amp is so silent at "idle" that you would think it's broke... After nearly 70 years!!!
 
I must admit, the Tweed Twin is a special amp to me and I really enjoy using it. I can understand easily why it is Keith Richards favourite stage and recording amp. It has my perfect "clean" sound with the 5C8 Octal tubes. It's not a loud clean like the later Twin amps, but it has such a beautiful and full melodic resonance it just gets to you. I think it's a combination of the octal preamp tubes, the 70 year old pine cab and the floating baffle. It really comes to life when played clean. Pushed it will growl like nobodies business, which is a different story, but clean it has a life all of it's own, as I said it's not wallpaper ripping loud clean, but it's an amazing sound with bells and ears ringing nonetheless. You'll be surprised how loud 25WATTs throug 2 x 12inch really is... It's one of the best I have ever heard. And I have heard some before....
 
The original Fender Tweed Twin simply is one of the best sounding combos in all of rock history and Tweed Twins of various configurations have been important to the sounds of David Gilmour, Keith Richards, Danny Gatton, Mike Bloomfield, Eric Clapton and several other notable players. Just saying. Set it up correctly and this legendary amp will be one of the best performing amps in the world!!
 
This particular Twin has the original tweed, grillcloth, old wood cabinet, chassis, TRIAD power transformer, 2 x original 1953 Jensen P12Q speakers, pots, jacks, and most electronics. The Output Transformer is replaced for a Mercury Toneclone FTTWIN-O and the upper back panel is also an aged replacement but it's hard to tell as it was a very fine job done. Some capacitors and a few resistors are replaced for high end Jupiters and NOS parts. She's waiting........